It’s very much understood that Samuel Umtiti’s services are no longer required at Barcelona.
The player is aware of the situation at hand, and while there are concrete offers from Italy and Turkey, SPORT says he is trying to re-join his former employer Olympique Lyonnais before the transfer window slams shut.
The 28-year-old out-of-favour defender knows Lyon are looking for a new central defender which has more or less convinced him that they would be an ideal ecosystem for him to resurrect his declining career.
But while the player is seeming excited about the move, the team from France’s Ligue 1 has decided to explore other options instead.
So far, Lyon have decided to acquire their former players who burst onto the scenes from their own backyard.
This is made evident by the returns of Corentin Tolisso from Bayern Munich and Alexandre Lacazette from Arsenal. Interestingly enough, both of them have arrived on a free transfer.
The report says both Tolisso and Lacazette are great friends with Umtiti and would welcome him with open arms, but Lyon are having serious reservations about the player’s physical condition.
For Barcelona, they remain calm about the entire situation despite the fact that his departure would open up a lot of free space in terms of finances.
But since the Barcelona management has a good working relationship with the player’s representative, they understand the defender is doing everything possible to leave in the summer.
Hence, if he somehow manages to find a suitor, Barcelona will agree to terminate the current bond which runs until 2026.
This means the 28-year-old is doing everything in his power to facilitate the return to his former club. He knows the team still hasn’t found an ideal central defender, meaning that he is still hoping for the move to materialize.